LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Jan. 18 - Patterson ignored the law

After being seriously injured in an automobile accident while not wearing his seat belt, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson refused to release his medical records that could have led to criminal charges being filed against the at-fault driver of the other vehicle. He's a real piece of work.

In the past election, he was the only Republican who I couldn't vote for. Anyone so irresponsible as to ignore both the law and common sense by simply attaching the belt behind his back -- to shut the alarm off -- is not someone who I want as county executive.

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He compounds this irresponsibility by refusing to allow criminal charges to proceed against the driver who caused the accident. The rest of us are constantly being encouraged to step up as good citizens to identify and testify against those who aren't. But none of this seems to apply to Patterson. He's special.

WILLIAM WALKER

West Bloomfield

Voters should make up their minds

Let's inject a little independent voter sanity into your Jan. 1 article "Oakland residents: Delay on fiscal cliff resolution 'ridiculous.' " County residents voted in November to continue the Democratic administration. Now they want a change from what that administration settled for in 2012, the fiscal cliff.

Voters should make up their minds. What they really want is low taxes that were implemented by a Republican administration -- the Bush tax cuts -- an administration they wish never existed, except when it is convenient to blame it for something. They want higher taxes for the wealthy to pay for the overspending at the expense of future generations. That fat around the belly belies their cries of "poor me." They didn't make any complaints when they pocketed an extra $2,000 a year when the Bush tax cuts took effect, with an expiration date attached. Now they've expired. So quit bellyaching. If going over the fiscal cliff would have happened we might have headed for fiscal sanity instead of the kicking the-can down the road.

Don't expect a Republican House of Representatives to put more money in your pocket just because you want it. It may happen only to achieve a political goal.

I'm no 1 percenter by any means, and my fixed income will get tagged another $2,000 or more. But if it means getting out from under China's financial boot -- a boot we make heavier with every purchase of a Chinese product -- it will be worth every penny.